I’d never seen Dame Helen Mirren live on stage before. I’d interviewed her once – a royal honour, of course – and like millions of others, I watched her in Oscar-winning form when she battled through one of Her Majesty’s darkest hours in ‘The Queen’.

But it wasn’t until Saturday night in London’s West End that I saw what she’s really made of. Live theatre plagued by power failure and deafening drums..? She ate it up, spat it out and left the audience on their feet.

Theatrical giants such as the Telegraph’s own Charles Spencer have already told anyone who can read that Dame Helen gives a “magnificent performance” as the Queen in Peter Morgan’s monumentally good play ‘The Audience’.

It’s a suspiciously realistic work of fiction based on her weekly conversations with some 12 Prime Ministers. For what it’s worth, I’d have given Dame Helen two Olivier awards she was so good.

Last night though, her showing at the Gielgud Theatre earned her another, special, award. Let’s call it the ‘Jane Tennison Award for Services to Very Live Theatre’.

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There we all were … a packed house trying to be entranced as, towards the end of the first half, the Queen was discussing the worsening fallout from her Annus Horribilis with Prime Minister No 9.

However, the words of John Major and Her Majesty could hardly be heard above a God-awful din coming from outside the theatre. Never flinching, Dame Helen and the superb Paul Ritter carried on as best they could until the curtain came down for the interval.

Sad but true to say, however, that the subtleties of our future King’s collapsing first marriage and the proposal to sell HMY Britannia had been lost to the noise pollution from Rupert Street.

As most of the audience headed for the bar, I headed outside to see a large crowd surrounding a bunch of nomadic drummers who, for some reason, had decided to go for it outside the stage door.

It turns out they were banging for an event called ‘As One in the Park’ and usually I’d wish them well.

Last night, however, I wished they'd go to the park, any park, away from the theatre. So, spotting some bloke with a flag, I politely explained that the noise was really spoiling the play and asked if they could move on. As it turned out though, polite wasn’t the way to go …

Back to the play – and as we’re heading towards the end of the second half, the audience was thankfully lost in the moment as Richard McCabe’s uncanny Harold Wilson shared with the Queen his private anguish over suspected Alzheimer’s.

He’d been suffering mood swings, forgetting things, imagining BLACKOUT … off go all the lights … pause … “Ladies and Gentleman,” said Dame Helen in the darkness, “we’re obviously having a bit of a problem …”

Some lighting soon returned but a chat with the Stage Manager revealed it would take four minutes before all systems were go.

The show must go on, of course, but it couldn’t, so Dame Helen did. “We’re having a bad night,” she said to the audience, before apologising for the noise that had drowned out the end of the first half and telling everyone about the drummers.

“I went outside,” she said, laughing, “dressed as the Queen – and told them, not too politely, to ‘go away’ as they were spoiling the play.”

Twitter fans have reported she really wasn’t too polite. In fact, they’ve tweeted she was most forthright. With a capital ‘F’, apparently. True or not, there was no more drumming.

Back to the play then, and with the theatre’s technology back up and running, the Queen had settled back down to learn more about her Prime Minister’s mental decline, clearly unruffled by the brief blackout. “It all happened in Mr Wilson’s head”, she said … Big laugh … pause … “As I was saying,” replied the Prime Minister …

Hardly surprising that the cast got yet another standing ovation for their efforts. I, for one, would have joined a chorus of ‘God Save the Dame’.

Looking back on the evening, I still feel a little short changed by the noises off but not as cheated that I missed the Head of the Commonwealth steaming into the middle of a busy London evening, allegedly using language I’m sure Her Majesty wouldn’t even understand. Prince Phillip perhaps, but not the Queen.